Minty bad breath

For the first time ever we had a babysitter come over and went out for dinner. It happened to be our 11th anniversary. Look at that plastic smile but we were really happy. Earlier when I had said
"Manav today is a special day. Me and Papa got married 11 years back"
"Married? About what? 11 is my roll number Mommy" was Manav's reaction. Maybe he thought "married" and "mad" were synonymous.

We returned to two sleeping children (they had missed their afternoon nap so this was sort of expected) and story of the evening from the babysitter. 

"It is algae, not algae" Manav correcting her pronunciation when she was reading the book. 

"If I need to I will go. You have already told me three times" Manav's retort when reminded to go potty before bed. 

"You must have left it at home" a teary Arnav talking about her handbag when she made a pretense of looking for it so that she can call Mommy and Papa.

"Wake up Arnav, you can't sleep" Manav aghast that Arnav fell asleep listening to her read.

Next morning Manav remarked

"When I woke up at night and came to your bedroom I thought Lola will be there. But thank God you were there Papa"

"Did you cry Arnav?" I asked

"No I didn't." then a second later

"A little bit. I cried and dada cried" Arnav added

"Are you a monster Mommy?" Arnav asked

"Why?"

"You are wearing a black T-shirt. Monsters are black"

"There are no monsters. They are make-belief" Manav's knowledge was practical.

While on our drive back from school, Manav declared

"A big cottonwood tree fell down in the storm Mommy" making me scamper to google "cottonwood"

and during a bathroom break

"If a frog is large it is a bullfrog. Medium and small frogs are not bullfrogs"

and on one of those random moments

"Coach Philips has bad breath" sending shivers down my spine as to how he figured that or overheard

"Who told you that Manav?" I asked

"She told. She said she chews gum as she has bad breath" So that was the coach's tactic to dispel kids from gum or was it?

And today while doing his homework Manav said

"The sun drinks away all the water when we play outside. So we need to hibernate"

"You mean hydrate Manav?" I said after sometime, happy I could make the connection

"Let me think, which word was it......yes, hydrate. Hydrate with H2O. Butterflies hibernate in Mexico as it is warm there when it snows here" Manav went on his knowledge show-off spree. Now when he wants water he says

"I need to hydrate"

Today Manav wanted all the dining chairs lined up against the couch, which I denied. He was very mad and said

"I am asking you the last time. Will you or will you not give me the chairs"

"No, Manav I already said no chairs"

"Ok then as you are not listening to me I will touch your sewer (the sewing machine)"

And on one of the timeouts (yes there were many today (a) because I was sewing non-stop (b)Manav missed his nap so was excessively unreasonable. I am glad its me and not him who is writing this blog)

" I am not your best son anymore. I am Papa's best son"

During the hailstorm today evening Manav yelled back

"The car is getting hurt Mommy. You have to move it"

They had a great time collecting the "round ice that fell from the sky". Still there was a whole lot of whining as Manav could not "see the lightening before hearing the thunder"

Reminding me of April showers and our first-born, four years back. Yes, it did rain when we were in the hospital. So many memories of that wonderful Saturday morning.